NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 2 Monday Night Football Doubleheader Recap: The Quintessential Baker Game!

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook deliver immediate reaction and analysis to the Week 2 Monday Night Football doubleheader featuring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. the Houston Texans and the Los Angeles Chargers vs. the Las Vegas Raiders. The duo sings praises for Baker Mayfield and critically analyzes the state of the Houston offensive unit, then provides commentary on what may have been the worst performance of Geno Smith's career in a telling loss to a strong Los Angeles Chargers defense that lost Khalil Mack midway through the contest. All that and more on the latest from NFL Daily!NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. And they run four. Perper does all day in the pocket. Takes a shot down field too wide open. Caught Quinn Johnson. Touchdown.

Chargers. 60-yard touchdown. Herbert to Q. What a throw from Justin Herbert. Oh, what a throw and what a call by Batmoney-Smith and Daniel Jeremiah, our friend, on KFI. Yes, Justin Herbert with a dime down the field to Quentin Johnston, a 60-yard score in the middle of a game that wasn't the best game. We're going to watch this year. I'm Greg Rosenthal.

Nick Shook is with me all the way from Cleveland. Chargers win 20 to 9. Welcome, if you're joining us live on YouTube. If you're listening in the morning or wherever you find us, we're hitting both the Monday night football games in this show. We are going to start with the Chargers and the Raiders. And spoiler alert, the Texans Buck's game had a little more to talk about. But Nick, I'll just start here.

This looked like a team in the Chargers that we're going to be talking about a lot throughout the course of this season in high leverage games and we're learning more about them now in back-to-back primetime appearances and a team in the Raiders that ultimately I don't think have enough players

to get it done, one of the worst games in Gino Smith's career, unfortunately, in prime time and it was not nearly as close as the 20 to 9 score would indicate what is your biggest takeaway? Yeah, it was actually pretty casual in the second half by the Chargers

with that lead in especially the fourth quarter. They opened the door for the Raiders to make a couple of, you know, comeback attempts, and obviously they didn't follow through on that. But that's how dominant the Chargers were in this game. We're not going to necessarily look at this game in a few weeks and think, oh, this was when we realized the Chargers were for real. But to me, the defense alone makes me think, oh, the Chargers might be for real,

because they own this game. They absolutely shut down the Raiders. and anything that they brought to the table, they showed the difference in overall talent, and that's after they lost Khalil Mack to an injury as well. They were just dynamite in the secondary. Any ball that was tipped in the air, almost all of them they intercepted.

They started to play off with the Diane Henley interception, a lopsided victory that, like you said, the score does not reflect how dominant the chargers were tonight. Yeah, one of our viewers right now, Chris G, is asking, is he turning into the day on Henley Appreciation Hour? Yeah, where were you? for the Deon Henley-Flew game. On the injury report with an illness added,

there was some real concern that he wasn't going to play in this game. And my new favorite player, Marlow Wax, I thought might be starting. Instead, he gets out there, and you mentioned it, gets the interception on the first play of the game, the combination of Aloie Gilman and him,

Gilman breaking on a ball, which was typical of the entire night. Geno Smith could just not find open receivers. And when he did, he often missed them, throwing 43 times for 180 yards and three interceptions. And Henley, who had one of them, also had 10 tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss, and a pass defense. And I said it going into the year.

He is a future All-Pro. It would not surprise me if he has that type of season this year. And you know how you have those type of seasons? You get everyone's attention in a game like this. you know, watching some of the young players, Edgarin Cooper, and you have Jahad Campbell next to Zach Bonn. I, you know, Fred Werner and Dee Winters are playing. Well, I feel like linebackers are back.

And Deion Henley is leading the way this defense was absolutely ferocious and made a Raiders offense that was bombs away against the Patriots a week ago with 9 20-yard plus plays look totally toothless. And they couldn't get anything done, even as the offense tried to charger it away with some of the decision making and in the late fumble late in the game. Yeah, Raiders finished the game

with a success rate of 35.4% credit to the Chargers' defense. The Chargers leaned heavily on zone coverage, 87.5% of their defensive play calls against the past, zone coverage. And, you know, when you look at that, sometimes you think, what, you don't have the dogs to run? Man, no, they're just so good in zone and taking away throwing windows for Gino Smith

that it doesn't matter. There was a specific play. actually that was on the other side of the field but they've been pretty dynamite against two offenses that look a lot different but also have the potential to air it out. I think about the Chargers

playing the Chiefs last week and limiting the Chiefs to 21 points and also fighting back against the Chiefs' comeback attempt and that's a better team. I think about this week they never really let the door open for the Raiders to get into it. Yes, they didn't put a ton of points in the board. Yes, they had to settle for three when they were on the doorstep of the end zone

in the second half. None of it mattered. None of it mattered because the defense, I mean, they couldn't run the ball very well for most of this game. People are begging Greg Roman to run the football. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because of the defense's playing. Exactly. We've entered the alternative universe in which Quentin Johnson, you tweeted this, Quentin Johnson, everybody loves him and he's making plays,

and people are begging Greg Roman to run the ball. That's exactly what we saw tonight. I guess in Greg Roman's defense, you know, Amarian Hampton ends up with 24 yards on eight carries. A couple of those who are on the goal line, like you mentioned, Nagee Harris, eight carries for 28 yards. A lot of this is in trying to run the clock out and struggling to late in the game. And Harbaugh made some curious decisions.

It made me wonder if the rivalry between Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh was almost making him make emotional decisions, like trying to stick it to Pete Carroll. He didn't go for a fourth and goal on the two-yard line when they couldn't punch it in, almost emotional because he was so mad that they couldn't run it in. But then he does go for it on his side of the 50 and calls like an end around to Trey Harris where they were rushing the play.

They refused to take a timeout. And they end up fumbling the exchange snap. And yeah, ultimately, it doesn't matter because this defense is just is full of bad men. You know, Tarheep still is a guy not many people know. He was all over the place tonight. Tony Jefferson, definitely one of the candidates for our. our Wednesday Unka the Week this week. I mean, he was out of football.

He was in football, but he was working in a scouting department a couple of years ago. He's like in his mid-30s, and he skies for the one, I would say, understandable interception of Gino Smith, where he just decided to throw it deep on the third and sixth, and it turned into a pretty good arm punt. This group and their second year in Jesse Minter's system and the way that they play, their match. quarters. You know, we had Cody Alexander on the show in the preseason and the defense that they have and all the disguised, you know, pass rush looks that they give where you just don't know where the pass rush is coming from. It totally scrambled one of the smartest quarterbacks in the league in Gino Smith. And he didn't know what to do. And that's despite not having that could have

a four-man pass rush. And that is a concern, Nick. You mentioned Cleo Mack. He left with an elbow injury. He had, you know, a cast, not a cast, but it was in a sling on the sideline. It did not look good. They showed some pretty gruesome replays. And it would be surprising if we see Khalil Mack anytime soon. I'll just leave it there. And that's really disappointing. And I think could be really costly for this team, Nick, because it is not a deep pass rush group. I actually said, you know, this week on our show, that to me is their number one concern. And so it's really got me on Jesse Minter and the coaches to scheme something up or maybe the front office to look at the team that they have and try to find someone as we get closer to the trade deadline.

Yeah, it's funny because as you watch this game progress and the Raiders, you know, fail to find the end zone. I'm listening to the broadcast and they're just emphasizing how important is that Ashton Jinty gets the ball more and that they lean on him because you think, all right, well, you should be able to run against this front, especially without Mac out there. He finishes the 11 carries in 43 yards. Some of that's dictated by score different. by the Chargers coming out and scoring a touchdown just before the end of the half, by moving down and tacking on three more in the third quarter. But I think it also just kind of pointed to the fact that no matter what the Raiders tried

to do, they weren't really able to do much of anything. While we worry about the depth up front, which I think you're right, could be an issue in weeks ahead and against better teams with better run blocking, better, you know, run schemes because I think Gentry's a great player, so I wouldn't say better running backs. At the same time, I feel so good about their lineback. backing core and they're secondary. And the beauty of it is the versatility. It's Gino's last interception that illustrates that the best in which Derwin James is playing a middle zone and he's running back and Gino makes the right decision on that throw. That's where you're supposed to

throw that football. But because Derwin James is an Uber athletic safety playing in that role that's usually occupied by a linebacker, he's able to match the foot speed. I think that's how it was described by Lewis Riddick of the intended target who was Jacoby Myers, get his head around, deflect the ball and then another defensive back is there to pick that off. is where the strength of their defense is, it could be a weak point up front. It's something that will continue to monitor from week to week, especially against the better teams. But I feel so much better about the second and third level that they could potentially cover up for it, especially if they're able to disguise some blitzes and get some pressure that way. Yeah, I think those are all

really good points, and I'm glad you pointed out that play. Let's actually roll that highlight, Derwin James, who also had a fantastic night, really ending the game for the chart. Gino, they rush four. Pressure coming, takes a shot to the end zone. Popped up in the air intercepted for the third time. A touchback. I think Derwin tipped it. Derwin definitely tipped it.

And Dante Jackson comes down with it. Exactly what they needed, his 20th career interception. Oh, good play there by Dante Jackson. and yeah, the Chargers defense, you know, they looked better with Cleo Mac, but I'm not worried long term. I see a comment in the chat that says Brady, Tom Brady, the part owner of the Raiders, who was there at the stadium with a headset end, said he's got to know how bad Gino is.

Why is he allowing this? And this does hurt. And I know people are watching and I'm getting comments on Twitter and everything's happening. And I would just like to make a statement as the president of the Gino Appreciation Society and just admit this was one of the worst games of his career. I think it was good defense, more than anything. But there were a number of times in this game where he left a relatively clean pocket because he looked a little panicked and not sure of what he was seen. That is not a good sign. And then more than anything, he just missed four or five throws. And when I look at what I think

Gino does best is when a throw is there, he makes it. His on target rate, even from a year ago, when he was, you know, had worse traditional numbers, was right there at the very top of the league, especially even when he was pressured, but especially when he wasn't pressured. And tonight, he missed a few throws, including a potential touchdown late, which would have made it a one-score game to Brock Bowers where he just sailed it. So it was a really rough night for Gino. We can just admit that. That doesn't change how fantastic he looked in week one.

How underrated and fantastic, I think he's looked over the last couple of years. But it is a concerning game for both him and Chip Kelly. And I'll spin it to you, Nick, this way. I thought it pointed out just how vital everything Brock Bowers does is this offense because that was not the Brock Bowers were used to seeing. He was on the injury report with a knee injury. He had a brace on. He still got eight targets, five catches for 38 yards, but I was watching him very often. And he was just not moving the same. And they

need Brock Bowers. He is, to quote Dave Damashek, their jenga piece. And if he is not right, I just don't think they're dynamic enough on offense. Yes, I think that explains a lot of their struggles tonight. And I wanted to contextualize it and kind of, you know, have your back a little bit against the Gino haters because this offense looks so different without him at full strength. Yes, he was out there. But I think that one play where Derwin James pulls down his arm and gets away with the pass interference kind of just illustrated what he's going through right now. He does not have the athleticism and leaping ability that makes him so special with that knee. I mean, he's going through it right now. When he landed after jumping up,

like he tried to avoid landing on that leg. That is not anywhere close to 100% Brock Bowers. And like Damashik said, I completely agree that you pull that one jenga piece, the whole tower falls. That's what we saw tonight because we went into the season looking at their past catching options. And I call it past catching options because we are very much leaning on tight end here as a key part of this group.

We knew that Jack Besh hadn't been the second round pick that they thought he was going to be that Dante Thornton had outplayed him and was going to have a higher spot on the depth chart. We knew it was Jacobi Meyer and Dante Thornton and just figure the rest out because Brock Bowers is better than all of those guys and it's going to be your top target. When you eliminate your top target from that operation, when you cannot run the football, when you can't protect effectively against some of these disguised looks and pressures that are coming from unexpected angles, your whole offense just gets cut at the knees. And that's exactly what we saw tonight. So that's why I say we're not going to necessarily look back at this game and think

this is the moment we thought the Chargers were for real because I think context is super important in this matchup alone, but I give them a little bit of grace for the struggles that they endured tonight because they were ugly. It was a pretty ugly game for them, but they're not at full strength. I'm not excusing it, but I am saying that to help everybody kind of understand why it was so ugly and why Gino had one of the worst games of his career. Yeah, look, they're one-in-one. If you went into the season, you would expect them to be happy with that. They got a road win. They lost this one in the division. Hearing from a lot of you watching who are all over the place.

Netherlands, like over 20% of the people watching right now are from Europe. And yeah, some Canadians on the West Coast watching as well. So we appreciate you all and we'll be doing this each and every Monday night. Can we talk about Brady a little bit? I mean, do you want to talk about his pre-game announcement? Because that was fun. No, I don't care about the flag football. The flag football sports washing, you know.

There shouldn't be enough money to have Tom Brady do that. I mean, he has enough money, but he's doing it. Don't care about that. It's just so bizarre that he is going to a production meeting to announce a Chicago Bears game this week, Nick Shook, and his Raiders are playing the Bears in week four and that this just continues on. And I get there are conflicts of interest all over the media,

but it's a little extreme. He's talking with Chip Kelly, according to the broadcast, two or three times a week about offensive game planning. And meanwhile, he's gathering intel from all these other teams. And obviously, I'm aware that Ben Johnson is aware of this. And they're not giving upstate secrets to Tom Brady. But he is allowed to, like, make connections with players, with coaches that he might one day want to hire for the Raiders. and he is learning something. And the whole thing is just strange.

I always thought he should have had to pick between being an announcer and being an owner and him being up there with the headset on and the whole suit. And then when the camera was on him, he started slinking down in his chair. Did you know that? It was almost like he was trying to get off camera or something, Nick.

I'm doing that for the YouTube audience too. I don't know. I'm just lame. Well, let's add in the fact that the league kind of loosen the rules on him this year. Like last year it was you can't be in production meetings and all. Now you can do it over Zoom. Still can't be in the facility. What? You think that like the flow of information is just going to stop because he's not in the facility. Like he's still in these meetings. You're right. Now he's going into the meet. Now he's going into the facilities. You're

right. Yeah. Yeah. It's just the conflict of interest is, uh, it's not ideal. And also I came to the conclusion today actually about the flag football thing, but this too. His sphere of influence is like as large as the NFL. Like, as you're in the, you're on the A team for the Fox broadcast, America's Game of the Week, you're right there with Kevin Burckhardt, you're on a national game every week, you're also a minority owner of a team, you're also a legend. When you meet some of those players in these meetings, you think they're not going to look at you and be like, oh my God, that's Tom Brady.

You think that's not going to influence how they interact with you? I don't like it either. I agree with you. And I think this would be more of a concern if the Raiders were like a wagon and they're not. Well, look, they're one of the teams in the NFL, and they are. They are one of 32. If Tom Brady has any thing to say about it, and I think they'll be competitive this year, although it wasn't great.

All right, last couple of things on this game, and we'll get the Texans bucks very shortly. I do think it's notable. Justin Herbert keeps running so much. He had an awkward slide at the end of the game, which I didn't like to see where his cleat got caught in the turf. But early in the game, when they were struggling to get things going offensively, him scrambling really made a difference, and I think you can see the difference. He played a good, confident game tonight, and getting all the support that he's getting

from the defense kind of points out what the Herbert Hive has been saying all along. Like, he's doing his job. If he can get help around him, he will look a lot better. And ultimately, he's played two very clean games. I think he looks very composed, and he had enough great plays tonight, including that long touchdown to Quentin Johnson. And the other one that stands out to me is when they, went for it on fourth and two in the first half, Nick, and his first read was taken away on that

play, and he calmly just gets to his second read, and it was Keenan Allen over the middle. The Keenan Allen improvement from a year ago, I think is real. He is really helping this team on third and fourth down. Maybe now it's fourth and Keenan, and he just calmly and quickly gets to that second read. So right now I'm really happy as a guy who's always loved watching Justin Herbert with what they're doing around him. For the most part, the running game's not great, but the past protection has been pretty good. Yeah, you should feel vindicated too, because I feel like Herbert has taken too much negativity from critics over the last couple of years for the Charger struggles as if it was his fault just because he plays quarterback. The narrative,

and it's true over the last, I would say the last two years, more specifically two years ago, was that they didn't protect him well enough. And they've worked on that since then with the investments they've made in the offensive line. Well, now he's getting protection. And now the offense is running through him again. And it's not this run first offense that we thought we were going to see. It's, we're going to empower him to do whatever he wants. Those two touchdown passes looked way too easy to be in an NFL game against a team that's like not a bottom barrel team. And that's what people should worry about if they're playing against the Chargers is, oh, God, Herbo might come in here and dice us up because he's looking real good right now.

So 2-0, they've beaten both the division, you know, games that they've had in front of them, the Chiefs, the Raiders, and they can try to complete the trifecta in one of the biggest games of week three. They play the Broncos. Weird schedule. It really made this September be extremely important for the Chargers. If you can sweep your division in the first three weeks of the year, they could potentially have like a two-game lead and a tiebreaker over all three teams in week. four, almost unheard of.

And it makes me think about how hard they practice in training camp. You know, hardball runs a tough training camp and the fact that they had an extra week because they were in the Hall of Fame game. It all might have helped them out a little bit to get a head start, but they'll have to beat the Broncos next time. But I'm also a little worried how that's going to look when we get to November and December. Okay.

Calm down. Just saying. Let's not worry about the charger again. It's a marathon. It did really kind of look like they tried the charger. away, but they're different this year. They're complete. They can win games different types of ways. Okay,

let's talk Bucks and Texans. If you're listening on audio, let's take a quick break. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from Scouting Reports and Player Development

to Team Building Philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel?

That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Florio. And together we host the NFL. Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet,

we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL. now to learn more. Let's go to the Bucks and the Texans, and yes, it came down to the very end. Mayfield sends it back in motion, hands the ball off.

Rashad White, into the end zone. Is he in? Is he in? Touchdown Tampa Bay. Touchdown Tampa Bay. Buccaneers take the lead at 20 to 19. Rashad White right up the gut. Oh, that's Gene Deckerhoff alongside Dave Moore for W.F.

on a night where the Bucks running game had a success rate that, you know, I would have accepted like on a math test back in high school. They run the ball in at the very end after Todd Bowles, of all people, manages the clock absolutely beautifully. Baker Mayfield did it again. They didn't score Nick for seven straight drives before Baker Mayfield got the ball back with a couple minutes to go. And when he got the ball back, I don't know about you, but I thought, oh, he's going to go score

a touchdown on his drive. And you know what? He did it. Yeah, he did. The instant cries of, you score two quickly Texans were proven to be correct. Baker Mayfield is a magician. He is a ball of fire disguised

by a Buccaneers uniform. He's somebody that you can rally an entire team around. You So back in the day, when the Browns drafted him first overall, John Dorsey drafted him first overall because he walked into the facility at Oklahoma and made a little call to his teammates and they all responded because he's a leader. He's a guy that players will rally around. And he's a guy that players will trust in a moment, a high leverage moment,

a moment of adversity. You're on the road. You're playing prime time. The stadium's loud. I don't know if the roof is closed or open, but I'm sure it was loud regardless. And he goes right down the field. He converts a fourth down by slipping what would have been a game-ending sack or at least. at least a sack that would have put them in a bad spot

because they still had their timeouts. And then he continues to just dot the sideline with passes. They managed the clock not perfectly, at least from the coaching side, but because Baker's out there, they manage it well. And then they pounded in there. It was just about perfect. What did you have a problem with? Well, I felt like they kept a timeout in their pocket

when I don't know if I necessarily would have had them do it. But it paid off because then they were able to run the ball on the goal line because they have that timeout. They kept their timeouts, which to me kept the flexibility. You're right. There was a chance. that they would have only had time to run one more play after this, but probably not with six seconds left.

I honestly think it was one of the best managed two-minute drills that I've seen in the fact that they kept those timeouts in their pocket and then were able to run it there is a feather in Todd Bowles' cap and Josh Grisard, the Lizard King. I always forget what Jordan. Lizard lick. Man, he got it done. You mentioned the fourth down play to Baker Mayfield.

So, yeah, let's set it up here. Like I mentioned, two minutes and 10 seconds left. They have the ball on the 20. So not great field position. Had gone seven straight drives without a single point after two touchdowns to start the game. They're playing without their two starting tackles. Tristan Worf's not yet ready to play. They're all pro left tackle.

They did have Luke. get a key, start this game at right tackle. He actually looked great, I thought, on the first drive, which was a touchdown drive. Then he comes out. They still score a touchdown on their second drive. After that, you kind of saw the hard hitting Texans defense do what they do and really shut down Tampa. So that's the sequence that sets it all up.

First three plays of the drive, Nick, no yards. Incomplete pass, a completion that doesn't go for anything. Baker, like he was, most of the night is under a lot of pressure, and then we get to fourth and 10, and the Bucks, rather the Texans, send another blitz, maybe one blitz too many. 1914, Houston. Bucks have one more down, fourth down and 10. Can Baker Mayfield pull something out of the hat and convert on fourth down and long? Here's the snap. Here comes heat. Picked up nicely. Mayfield into pressure. He's going to run.

Mayfield to the 40. Mayfield of the 45-yard line. He's stripped up with the 40. So Baker Mayfield, that's a better Baker does his thing. Yes, it is time for delivering results by Uber Eats. And let's have our Baker conversation because he absolutely delivered. That was a play where you saw the pocket collapsing around him. And I think in that moment, like every Texans fan, and I live with one, he's 10 years old and he's asleep by now, thought the Texans were going to win that game. And then Baker just does what he does and escapes

and flips over in true Baker style and then calms down afterwards. And it's crazy because it's like if you're a Baker hater, he gives you like those bad moments for you to say, oh, well, he got lucky. Like early on, he threw a ball into triple coverage that should have been picked. He fumbled the ball twice in this game,

including a fumble where he punched the ball out of his own hand. It was bizarre. Like, he had bad moments, and yet when it really mattered, he comes up with that big play. And that's becoming, like, the defining thing in what is, you know, just a fascinating career. Yeah, you know, in the biggest spots when it seems like the chips are stacked against him, he pulls off not quite miracles, but something close. Like, Henry Tooto had a great game tonight. And he was the guy blitzing, kind of a late arriving blitzer.

That was there to Zach Baker on that play as we just played. if you're watching on YouTube. And I don't know how he slipped that sack. I mean, Toto almost over pursues a little bit, but like there's not a lot of space there. He slips it like it's nothing and takes off and runs. And as soon as that he takes off, you realize the middle of the field is open.

But in classic Baker fashion, he doesn't slide. He's like, bring on the contact. He battles multiple, like, knee issues suffered in the first half. I was shocked he was out there after one of them. The slow-mo replay, his knee gets bent in awkwardly. He grabs at it immediately. And you're thinking, oh, no, not another quarterback to go down in week two.

gets right back up gets back on the field he runs he scrambles on that play or it might have been an earlier play where he bangs his knee on the turf and grabs his knee again and then CJGJ CD-Duce is in his face talking trash

and instead of being like oh my knee Baker understands the moment stands up gets in his face and immediately starts talking trash right back because Baker's never going to be talked down when it comes to trash talk like he is the

he defines the energy of this team and it's just like they did in Atlanta last week. They're in a tough spot. Most teams lose in those situations. He has no fear. Goes right down the field, hits a Buka for the touchdown last week. This week, he makes all the plays to set them up for the rushing score. That was the top story from this game, was the way that he finished the game. It's something that we just have to come to expect from him in these key moments now. You can never count him out. There's like four quarterbacks you can't count out in these situations. Pat Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Baker Mayfield. That's it. Like, those

first three, you're like, oh, those guys all won MVPs. And then there's Baker Mayfield. You're not throwing Herbert to that Mick? Geno's how, actually, if you just look at last minute. I would throw, I would throw Herbert in there, I know that people would push back against that. I would throw him in there in my own private conversations, maybe not publicly yet. Those four, though, I would put my life on the line thinking they're going to go win this game because of who he is.

And, like, we haven't even talked really a lot about how well they were running the ball and how they did defensively. and yet it's because Baker dominates the conversation because he's that special level player. He is, and I think this almost replaces his Rams game as the quintessential Baker game because of all the reasons that I said. Because he actually only averaged 4.5 yards per attempt. They were inefficient tonight, and he's a streaky player, but he had enough very good moments,

including the touchdown to Abuka early, the first couple drives, and then the plays that mattered late. But they would not have won this game, as you mentioned, if it wasn't for the running game. Let's talk a little bit about Bucky Irving. Go 17 for 71 on the ground. Also catches six passes for 50 yards.

Rashad White, who gets the game winner there, great job in terms of pass pro, and then 10 rushes for 65 yards. They had a 63% success rate, which is just outstanding. You get extra points that it came against. this Houston Texans defense, compare that to 33% for the Texans.

They almost double them up there and you think about the play calling that the Texans had near the goal line where they decide to throw the ball after getting stuffed once near the goal line with Nick Chubb and he goes backwards. They decide to throw the ball twice. Meanwhile, the bucks, it was good rodent blocking

for sure for a lot of the night, But I also felt like a lot of that success rate is Bucky Irving turning a negative play or a one-yard run into a five-yard run or a seven-yard run or a four-yard run and keeping them on schedule. He really is a special running back, Bucky Irving. Rashad White's great too, but man, Bucky Irving makes something out of nothing. Yeah, Bucky Irving has the explosiveness and the swiftness to kind of like slice and dice knife through a defense to turn what looks like when he first receives the handoff maybe a two-yard

gain into a nine to 12-yard gain. And he didn't have a ton of plus 10-yard runs tonight. Like his average was I think around four yards per carry. It was 4.2. But make no mistake, he paced this ground game. And we knew what he was capable of because of what he did last season. The beauty of tonight is that he's not the only guy in that backfield. Rashad White lost his job to Bucky Irving last year, because Bucky was clearly the better option, they're both pretty damn good. They're both also good as three down backs. It's rare that a team has two guys that they can lean on as three down backs that you could deploy at the same time and keep a defense, you know, guessing even more because they're both out there. And they combine for, what was

it, 136 yards on the ground. I mean, that's great production right there. Success rate, 63%. You said you'd take that on a math test. So you're like, okay, all right, I guess we're taking low grades here, but you know who didn't have low grades? The rushing, the running backs didn't have low grades. Yeah, they got the only D, I think, in my life in a freshman. Like, I think it was honors math. And it was a good lesson for me. I then dropped down a level the next few years in math.

It was really the first time in my life, I was like, oh, you can't just get away with everything by, like, by talking. and by like not trying that particularly hard at some point you're going to come up against something that you just can't overcome with that it was a good lesson shout out to miss do gray who taught me a tough lesson in life so yeah i took a d and i'm not going to apologize for it

look that that was delivering results by the way presented by uber eats where you can get the best deals on game day food all season long it's the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL It's not too late. You can order now. I mean, we're hearing from people overseas. It's morning in Dublin.

It's afternoon in Australia. I'm actually going to be heading over to Dublin next week. Don't know if I've officially mentioned that on the podcast. It's going to be part of a live show, too, by the way, where there's some tickets with the Irish NFL show. Michael McQuaid, very excited about that. So go check out his social, my social, to get tickets to that. That's on Friday night.

I'm just decided, let's throw some plugs in there. Shook, before we get to the Texan side of things and then go to bed, because it's, what, 1 in the morning, 1.30 in the morning where you are? Yep, 1.30 here in Cleveland. Okay. We gave Bowles the props for managing the game. I think they're much better. They actually hired one of these game management assistants,

which more and more coaches and organizations are starting to do. And maybe they get some credit too. but I think this improvement started a year ago. I think this is a well-run organization. They have a lot of injuries. Like, they're missing their two starting tackles. That could have been an excuse. And Baker-Mayfield was under a lot of pressure.

Will Anderson had nine pressures in this game. Daniel Hunter had two sacks. But when you look at the pressure rate and you look at the blitz rate and everything, the Texans actually and the bucks in terms of their pass rushers were about a draw. Like the pressure rate was about a draw And the Texans actually had to send a lot of blitzes To get their pressure rate And so if you can make that a draw

While you're missing your two tackles And you're going up against this great Texans passers That's a win. That's good coaching. I just think they're really well coached Despite having a brand new offensive coordinator And then on the other side, I think Todd Bowles has his mojo back. He was sending the heat tonight

And he finally has a secondary he can trust again And the group that's kind of the safety nickel group, Antoine Winfield, Tykey Smith, and the rookie Jacob Parrish. He can be very multiple, and these guys can tackle, and they're versatile, and they're really good. And Todd Bowles was in his bag. I know they've only won by four points over two weeks, but they were playing pretty good opponents. I am really impressed with what the Buccaneers are doing from a coaching and just organizational perspective so far. Yeah, yeah. I think the four-point victory margin over the two weeks is an example of coaching.

Like, I think that they've put themselves in advantageous positions and made up for the absences, especially a tackle, by coaching. Like, I was so impressed by the way Grisard called his game tonight. Like, I just thought that his flow was great. He sensed the situation and called the right plays really well consistently over this night. I mean, obviously, like we said, Bucky Irving kind of elevates that running game, but they were well balanced. They were paced well. They moved down the field. When they scored, they did it effectively.

It's just that when you faced that defense. especially on the road in an environment like that, you are going to run into some, you know, three and outs and ugly scenarios. But overall, I was very impressed. And I actually had the thought in my head, damn it, they're going to do it again.

They're going to lose an offensive coordinator for the third straight year. They have the third straight, you know, new offensive coordinator. And they're still going to be successful. The lizard wizard from lizard lick. Yeah, the lizard lick kid.

The lizard lick guy is going to end up looking at head coaching jobs after this year. Like, I don't know how they keep getting away with this. And yet they do. of, you know, I think a large part because they have Baker Mayfield on the field. But, yeah, great job of coaching on both sides. And I picked up on those blitzes too from Todd Bowles. It feels like he's back in his comfort zone, getting aggressive again, still being short in his halftime interviews. That's who Todd Bowles is. And I thought it was a stark contrast against

the current state of the Houston Texans. And maybe this is where we transition because I have issues with the way the Texans coach this game tonight. I was, you know, really proud of finding the text from Jordan that said King Grizzard, the Lizard Wizard from Lizard lick. that but that's actually inspired by what there's there's actually a music artist named king gizzard i know i know i know the references big song rattlesnake you know yeah no i don't okay so yeah the offensive line for the texans they started well and they were they played fairly well i thought tonight against the four-man rush the problem wasn't their individual abilities although it wasn't amazing I thought Ursary, who is back at left tackle now, actually played okay.

I thought he played pretty well. But the communication of picking up the blitzes was so poor that the second Todd Bowles realized that it just was blitz on every key down. And in the end, C.J. Stroud, under pressure, goes three for eight for 25 yards and took four sacks. and he did not have much of a chance. And by the end of the game, even when the pressure was picked up decently, he was panicking a little bit and had that one throw that should have been intercepted

where he just like was just trying to get rid of the ball and not, you know, drop back before they wound up kicking a field goal and got very lucky. And so this is a group that's rag tag. It's a new center, you know, replacing an injury. and it was otherwise mostly the group that they had in the preseason, but they're guys that weren't very effective a year ago in the spots that they had and a rookie and a replacement.

And it's a bummer for them to look so much like they did a year ago in this game. Yeah, because we were sold a bad bill of goods in the off season. Oh, we just need to change the offensive coordinator. We need to make changes on the offensive line. We'll be in a much better place. We were even sold that they were improved during training camp. And yet here we are again watching CJ. Stroud get blitzed. Are you taking a shot? I'm one of the people that tried to sell it a little bit.

No, I was sold that by the people who were at Texans camp. I was writing those things up in the summer. Like, I was ready to buy into it too. D'Amico said he had his starting five solidified. We talked about it on the show. And yet we're still watching CJ Stroud get, you know, be forced to be uncomfortable. He's just, he doesn't trust his offensive lines still. And the biggest issue with it is not the fact that they aren't holding up well, especially when you have these changes. That's understandable. It's not the, the fact that they couldn't run the ball. effectively tonight. That's also understandable. It's the way that they called the game. I'm sorry, but if you're anticipating a blitz on third down, called up by Todd Bowles, a guy who's notorious for

sending pressure and knows that he can send pressure and find success, can you anticipate it in your play calling a little bit? Can you not lean on the past? Like, you look at the run pass ratio on this game, it seems very even because they did run the ball a little bit more in the later stages, which kind of evened it out. But there were stretches in this game in which they were just passing, passing, passing, and not turning to the run at all and getting nowhere with it. And there were so many times where C.J. Strave would drop back and have nowhere to go with the football. Now, if you have offensive line issues, you can call screens. You could, you know, potentially roll out your quarterback. They didn't roll him out by design until it was fourth

in goal and gave him, like, one option to throw to. And of course, he sails it over the guy's head because, like, this offense is just stuck. They're in a rut. And I think that it could be fixed with some better play calling in anticipation for the situation. and this is a first-year offensive coordinator. He's going to learn this, but it just frustrates me because you're putting your quarterback, who is good in a bad situation to the point

where now he's missing throws when he's not pressured. And that's really what concerns me the most. The effects from last year are bleeding over into this year, and it's undercutting your entire offense and making you lose games like this tonight, a game that you very much had a chance to win. Yeah, I would give the grade for CJ Stroud as a C. tonight. There were good moments. I will stand on the table and take all the stock people are

given away in C.J. Stroud. No, I'm taking it. And I'm believing wholeheartedly in two things from tonight. C.J. Stroud is going to have a great NFL career and is a very good quarterback right now. Yes. The other thing was, this game was entertaining as hell. They put on a good show. It felt like a playoff game. Granted, it felt like, you know, a early playoff game. Like, you know, West, why am I blanking on, you know, the early Texan slot that, that. Oh, West of us? West of it. Texans Bengals? My brain is shutting off after the last week. It felt like a West of this game, because they were absolutely hitting. It was tight. You didn't know what was going to happen. There's a lot of great players on the field, by the way. Like, we're,

We're watching Derek Stingley, Mike Evans matchup all night, which is going back and forth. And ultimately, I think Stingley got the better of that, nine targets while Stingley was in coverage. Only three catches, 36 yards. There was a lot to like. There was an incredible couple drives to start the game before it settled down into the defensive struggle.

So you saw different types of game. Hell, there was a great Kevin Harlan call on an absolute dime from C.J. Stroud where Nico Collins tapped his toes. Let's listen to that call. At the 29 of Tampa Bay, under center, it's dropped, first and 10 shotgun snap, left tackle block, arching smirvel, pass down the near sideline end zone over the shoulder catch. Was he in?

Collins, touchdown. The Texans have scored on a 29-yard touchdown pass by C.J. Stroud. Nico Collins in the end zone, both feet down over the shoulder grab. Six-nothing Houston. Oh, I love Kevin Harlan on Westwood one. So the bad memories late in the game, you know, when he got a little panicked, which felt like they were going to get erased after Jalen Noel has that long field goal return. And then Nick Chubb has a moment where I wondered for a second.

Did the Bucks let Nick Chubb score there to get the ball back? I don't think so. I don't think Todd Bulls was asked about. that, but I don't think so. But Nick Chubb gets the touchdown to cap that off that set up, the Baker-Mayfield winning drive. There was a lot of drama, a lot of fun in this game, and I will defend this game. Yeah.

Yeah, even though I just complained about the Texans for five minutes, I was very thoroughly entertained. Also, it was nice to see Nick Chub rip off his longest run since week 17 of the 2022 season. That was good, 25 yards for that touchdown. That was good to see him. He's a great guy. Glad to see him back in the end zone. Yeah, we were entertained.

This is going to be in my top five games of the year so far, I think. Oh, yeah. That's bold. Maybe number five. We're making that list on NFL.com every week. I appreciate that. I appreciate you. I do think we've gotten to the end here of the show.

I did want to update one injury situation from this game, Coliza Canty, who I thought looked outstanding for the first five quarters of this season, has a pectoral injury. Mike Garifolo of the game. NFL network says there is fear that it could be a season-ending injury, but they are going to get an MRI, get further tests to make sure there are different pectoral tears in terms of severity, and there's at least a chance as we're recording that it won't be the worst possible result. But Canty, to me, was a really important part of them finally figuring out their four-man rush shook

because I think even though the Texans' offensive line was bad, I think it's a little underrated how this group up front with Asan Reddick who had a lot of pressures tonight and then Vita Vaya and an underrated player in Yaya Diabi with Kansi, that was a really good group. And unfortunately, it looks like they're going to miss a key part of that. Yeah, and I'm worried about their depth in replacing him. You saw in the replay on that play,

as soon as he suffered the injury, one of his arms just kind of drops. like suddenly he's like oh I can't your whole from at least my experience anything in that area when it happens and it's relatively severe your whole arm kind of goes numb and that's what it looked like so I hope for the best with him but you know hopefully he gets good news but if not the buccaneers are going to have to figure out how to replace him thanks to everyone who join thanks to everyone who is listening to each and every show we know we know we do a lot it's right there in the name we love doing it for you so that that's it for our Monday night recap show. There will be three more double headers shook this year. I didn't check. I think they might all be these, you know, staff games where they're staying up like very late. I will check that schedule.

And so a little bit of a change. I believe this is the last year, though, of these double headers. Roger Goodell doesn't like it. So enjoy. We've only got a few more of these left, but we will be here every single Monday night with you. live on YouTube, and then, of course, in your podcast feed. We will also be back in the studio, Colleen Wolf, making her return to the Chris Wesley

podcast studio to see you next Tuesday, crew. Me, Colleen and Jordan, we will go through all the injury situations. Oh, yeah, JJ McCarthy's out, and Dayton Daniels might be out, and Joe Burroughs out for three months. We have a lot to talk about. It never ends on NFL Daily. We'll see you Tuesday. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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